NEITHER ABSOLUTISM NOR NEGOTIATION: SPANISH EMPIRE BUILDING AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE 18TH CENTURY CARIBBEAN

ABSTRACT This paper revisits the political economy during Spanish rule in America by reappraising the allegedly positive impact that intra-imperial transfers (situados) had on the Caribbean economy. It raises concerns concerning categories such as bargaining and absolutism and their accuracy in accounting for the nature of Spanish imperial rule. Three main findings are reported. Firstly, it seems inaccurate to hold that all remittances were injected into the economy with positive effects. Liquidity apparently provoked a real estate bubble. Secondly, the local market was not necessarily sensitive to the arrival of bullion. Finally, jurisdictional fragmentation allowed the king to issue debt in a disorderly fashion and with no constraints, and local officials and groups of interests to behave as free riders.

An analysis of the impact of jurisdictional fragmentation on property taxes in Ghana

Purpose Following decades of weak financial capacity of local governments in raising enough revenues to finance their budgets, this paper aims to examine the impact of jurisdictional fragmentation on property taxes in Ghana. Since independence in 1957, many local governments in Ghana are yet to build their fiscal capacity to collect enough own source revenues to support their local budgets. All local government laws in Ghana have assigned property taxes to local governments. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses quantitative econometric techniques with local level panel data from 2010 to 2016 to examine the impact of fragmenting assemblies in Ghana. Findings The paper finds that fragmenting local governments have an overall negative effect on property taxes in district assemblies in Ghana. However, fragmentation of metropolitan assemblies has an overall positive effect on property taxes, relative to district assemblies. In the case of municipal assemblies, fragmentation has a net positive effect on property taxes but an overall marginally negative effect, relative to district assemblies. Also, the paper finds that grants, capital expenditure and administrative expenditure of local governments do not impact on the collection of property tax revenues in all types of assemblies in Ghana. Originality/value The paper concludes that relative to metropolitan assemblies, fragmenting districts assemblies is not congruent with government efforts to promote the collection of property taxes in Ghana.

From Jails to Sanctuary Planning: Spatial Justice in Santa Ana, California

Today’s immigrant rights movements bring attention to jails—some cities’ largest public safety expenditures—as primary sites for deportation operations. This article examines how these movements push for sanctuary while challenging jails’ political and economic place in cities. With qualitative and archival data from a case study in Santa Ana, California, this research finds that by ending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts, exposing the economic and political interests invested in jails, and pushing for jail reuse alternatives, sanctuary planning threatens public investment in police and security infrastructure. Challenges to these movements include jurisdictional fragmentation with diverse approaches to detention.

DEVELOPING RURAL INSIGHTS FOR BUILDING SUSTAINABLE AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES INITIATIVES

Researchers have questioned the focus on describing features of preliminary age-friendly implementation and the absence of program evaluations or analyses of long-term implementation. This lack of knowledge inadvertently simplifies unique pathways to age-friendly sustainability, preventing researchers from conducting in-depth, retrospective examinations of age-friendly and post-age-friendly perspectives. Seeking to address this critique, this research examines the challenges to rural age-friendly program sustainability, and the factors that may help committees overcome these barriers. Data were collected through a succession of qualitative studies, including a provincial age-friendly program evaluation and a series of studies examining sustainability in rural initiatives. Eighty in-depth interviews with age-friendly leaders and older participants from 27 rural Canadian programs were conducted, seeking knowledge about programs’ development and implementation. Key findings include the conceptualization of an implementation gap between early development and long-term viability, the important role played by individual communities, the challenges of capacity and jurisdictional fragmentation, and the inability of rural age-friendly programs to tackle bigger picture issues such as housing and transportation given their necessarily limited scope and reach. Implications relevant for research and practice suggest that drawing on individual, community, and jurisdictional factors will maximize the success and sustainability of rural age-friendly programs, thereby extending the reach and scale of programs to more directly affect older people. From this, we conclude that the sustainability and success of rural age-friendly programs would benefit from consistent, renewable government funding that considers factors relevant to overcoming the implementation gap and challenges created by jurisdictional fragmentation and de-emphasizing community individuality.

Classifying Regulatory Approaches of Jurisdictions for Accessory Dwelling Units: The Case of Long Island

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a strategy for providing affordable rental housing. We suggest a typology of regulatory approaches in Long Island, New York, differentiating between jurisdictions that allow nonfamily/nondomestic employee renters in ADUs (Type 1), allow only family members and domestic employees in ADUs (Type 2), and do not allow any ADUs (Type 3). Content analysis, descriptive statistics, and t tests reveal that there is variation among occupancy and design regulations, suggesting that jurisdictional fragmentation and exclusionary zoning present obstacles to using ADUs as an affordable housing strategy.

Church Jurisdictional Fragmentation, Religious Discourse and Public Policy: The Greek Case

The paper aims at exploring the question whether the Greek State has exploited the jurisdictional fragmentation of the Orthodox Church in order to promote its secular agenda. The paper argues that the so-called ‘identity card crisis’ (2000) might be a case highlighting this point. To this end, the paper critically examines the discourse of senior church officials with respect to this public policy issue. Special emphasis is also put on the relations between Church and State, as well as the causes and effects of their systemic alliance within a growing secular and multi-cultural society.